Matavén area in the Colombian Guiana Shield Region

Colombia is a country where (indigenous) communities are driven off their lands by guerrilla and paramilitary warfare and the cultivation or the eradication of illegal crops. Forest restoration and compensation for ecosystem services may help to decrease conflicts.

The violence, the cultivation of illegal crops and their eradication by pesticides and fumigation lead to forest destruction and serious water pollution. The conflicts are now also spilling over into the neighbouring countries.

The challenge now for Colombia is to protect its wealth of ecosystem services and the indigenous people's culture and way of life. To achieve this it must be able to enforce laws, provide its people with security and viable alternatives. Fundamental to achieving the challenges are not only payments for ecosystem services, e.g. carbon sequestration, from foreign donors but also remote sensing monitoring of these ecosystems in order to prioritize problematic areas.